burning bright
by Empress Empoleon
Summary: Lucy's new neighbor is much more than she bargained for. / Natsu, Lucy, and learning to live. {neighbors!au, no-magic!au}
1. burning bright

Lucy groans as another loud crash resounds from the apartment next to hers. She isn't sure she can take this anymore.

"Hey, are you all right in there?" She hits her hand on the wall, and the banging next door abruptly stops. She sighs, about to continue writing again when-

_THUD._

Lucy screams in frustration, ready to claw her hair out. She had told herself last night that she was going to finish this chapter before lunch, but ever since she woke up there had been loud noises from her new neighbor next door moving in, and she hadn't been able to concentrate one bit.

The few sentences staring up at her from the paper are mocking her, and Lucy makes up her mind. She bursts out of her door, forgetting shoes or even a proper cover-up to keep her warm since it's December and the hallway isn't heated.

Lucy pounds the metal hanger on the door next to hers incessantly. The numbers on the gold plaque read _23_, right after her door's _21_. "Excuse me? I know you're in there."

After a moment, the door slowly creaks open. Lucy takes a step back and stares at the one onyx eye that was staring at her through the crack.

"Yes? And how may I help you?" the person drawls, raising an eyebrow at her, the young blonde woman who was standing in front of his door at nine in the morning dressed in her fluffy pajamas.

Lucy can tell from the voice that the person is a man; it sounds deep and a bit husky, like he just woke up, and it runs over her skin and almost makes her shiver. However, she stands tall, glaring at that one onyx eye with all her power.

"You've been making way too much noise," she tells him, putting a hand on her waist. "I can't focus on my work with you banging away in here."

The small eye narrows, and suddenly Lucy hears the click of a latch opening. The door swings open and Lucy finally sees the man she was talking to.

He's tall. Lucy only reaches his shoulder, and she has to crane her neck up to look him in the eye. His hair is a shocking salmon pink, and he's rubbing his large hands through it as he stares down at her. He's in plaid bottoms and - wait, he's not wearing a shirt.

Lucy blushes and looks down at her feet, before back at his face. He's definitely in shape; she'll give him that.

"I just moved in," the man says slowly. "There's going to be some noise today."

"I understand," Lucy replies, "but this is too much. Like I hear you yelling too? There's no need for that."

"I was yelling because I dropped a box on my foot," he retorts defensively. "You'd do the same."

"No, I wouldn't," she says, "because I would have considered the people next door and then cringed silently!"

"Shut up!" A hoarse voice calls from down the hallway. There's a ear-splitting door slam after that, and Lucy blinks.

The man in front of her smirks and Lucy feels completely and inexplicably angry. "Guess not."

Lucy growls, glaring at him. "Please don't be so loud. I need to work."

The door is shut and Lucy shakes her head, quickly walking back to her apartment because she didn't wear any shoes and the wooden corridor floor wasn't exactly warm in December.

She sighs as she closes her door, sinking to her feet and curling up like a ball with her back against the door. Just _talking_ to him exhausted her.

She bites her lip. _Maybe_ she had been too harsh. He was right; he _was_ only just moving in, and Lucy was sure she wasn't exactly quiet when she had unpacked her stuff.

Guilt suddenly washed over her. That man was totally innocent, and she had just lashed out at him because she was having trouble finishing her chapter and he happened to be nearby causing a ruckus. She blamed him for something that wasn't even his fault, and now she has wasted his first impression of her.

_He's probably thinking that he has an awful new neighbor right now,_ Lucy thinks, frowning.

Lucy clenches her fists, pushing herself to her feet. Quickly, she grabs a bathrobe and ties it around her waist, slipping her feet into some flats near the door.

She walks out and is about to pound on his door like she had a few minutes before when he beats her to it. Just when she reaches for the door hanger, there's another loud thud, and she hears a string of curses go off inside.

She knocks, pressing her ear to the door. "Hey, are you okay?"

The door opens unexpectedly, and Lucy, who was leaning against it, falls into him. She quickly pulls herself together, looking away and blushing.

His chest was warm, and toned. Lucy couldn't get enough of his abs, and felt like killing herself for basically gaping at him from his doorway.

"What? Came to yell at me some more?" he says, and Lucy suddenly realizes that her hunch was right. His tone is bitter, but not like he's mad; he's pouting and it sounds more like he's sad that she's mad at him.

Lucy feels like a horrible person right now.

"No," she says quietly, shifting from foot to foot. "I actually came to apologize. I think I was too harsh to you, you are just moving in after all-"

He smiles so fast that it's blinding. Lucy wishes he had put up a warning because his grin is boyish and cute and with his whole mouth and it feels like a blanket draping over her and she totally isn't ready for him.

"Apology accepted!" he cheerfully says, and it almost sounds as if he _expected_ her to come back to say sorry or something.

There's a moment of awkward silence as she stands there staring at his smile and he just keeps beaming down at her like a ray of sunlight on this overcast December morning.

"Well," she coughs. "Do you need any help in there?"

The man blinks, before opening the door wider for her. He just keeps smiling, and it's contagious. Lucy's lips tug upward and she desperately tries to hide the weird joy that's rushing through her as she walks into his flat.

Lucy gasps. "This is-"

"Amazing?"

"Awful!" she yells. "There's so much _rubbish_ in here!"

"It's not rubbish!" he shouts. "This is all stuff I collected."

"You have a box full of candles," Lucy observes, crouching down to pick up the variety of candles in the small box. From small and stout to long and thin, he had them all, in a variety of colors and smells.

"I like fire?" he questioningly answers, and Lucy shoots him a worried look. He was worse off than she thought.

"It was right of me to come over," she declares, standing and giving her bathrobe a tight tug so it won't slip off. "You need a lot of help."

"No, I don't," he retorts, walking over to her and pulling the pink candle she was holding out of her hands. Their fingers brush for a second and it feels electric.

"Do you want my help, or not?" Lucy snaps, and the man stares at her with those same onyx eyes she saw through the door crack, except now they're so much deeper and so much more welcoming. Lucy feels like she could get lost in them.

Then he gives her a small smile. "Go ahead."

Lucy smiles back, thinking that maybe this could be the start of something great. He's a bit odd, but he's more than a bit nice, and for some reason Lucy feels very comfortable around him, even though he's a half-naked guy with pink hair that she just met.

"I'm Natsu," he tells her.

"Lucy," she answers, and they clap their hands together in a handshake.

She's been feeling kind of down all morning, but now, looking up at Natsu, her manicured hand fitting perfectly in his calloused one, she feels invigorated. Outside it's beginning to snow but right now, in front of him, all she feels is warmth.

"I think we could make a pretty good team," she tells him, and she means it.

* * *

A/N: Because this is _exactly _what I should be doing when I haven't updated Top Ten yet.


	2. making masterpieces

"I think that's the last of it," Natsu declares as he stacks the last empty box away in the corner.

Lucy wipes the sweat off her brow with the back of her wrist, giving a sigh of relief. "Thank god! I thought it would _never _end."

She flops down on the couch that they had both set up together earlier, and rolls around so she can stare up at the roof that is miraculously not breaking with the weight of the snow on top of it. Natsu, after bumping into something and cursing, which she has noticed he has the tendency to do, sits down next to her, kicking his feet out so they rest on the opposite side of the couch, near her head.

It feels really comfortable for some reason.

Lucy lays her head back so that it falls over the edge of the armrest. In the back of her head there's a nagging voice telling her to get home and finish the chapter but honestly moving herself seems so impossible.

Lucy thinks again how _comfortable _this is. They're two grown adults squeezing onto a couch yet it just feels so _right_, the way his cheek is resting on her ankles and his prickly legs are touching her shoulders. They kind of fit right into each other, and now she feels a heat rising inside her, from the tips of her toes all the way up to her head, filling her entire body with this really satisfied feeling.

_I feel really good right now, _she thinks. She hears Natsu saying something but it sounds far away and right now her eyelids are heavy and sleep is sounding better and better.

* * *

She wakes up to footsteps and a loud stomach rumbling.

Her eyes fly open but settle. She's looking up, and she's seeing the roof like she always does. Her neck is propped up on a pillow and her back for some reason is super stiff-

It's at this moment that Natsu's face appears directly on top of hers with a large grin. "Good morning!"

Lucy screams and abruptly sits up, her nose smashing into his. They both recoil back in pain, Lucy landing back down on his couch and Natsu getting up, rubbing his nose and giving her a sour look.

She gets up slowly, rubbing her back and warily looking around her. Had she slept the night in his place? She must have. She didn't really remember much from last night.

She blinks. _No way. Did I just spend the night at a guy's house? A guy who's basically a stranger?_

Quickly she looked down at her clothes. Her bath robe was undone, probably because of her rolling around during the night. Her shirt was barely covering her midriff; she pulled it down hastily.

She didn't _look _like she had been molested, but she should probably make sure.

"Did you pull anything on me last night?" she suspiciously asks.

"Pull what?" he answers dumbly.

Lucy shakes her head. He must be one of those dumb, oblivious types who probably wouldn't know a relationship if it hit them in the face.

"Sorry for sleeping here," she apologizes, getting up and fixing the pillow. "I better head back now."

"Nah, it's cool," he says, and Lucy's cheeks feel the slightest bit tingly. "In fact, you should just stay here."

Lucy's cheeks go from slightly tingly to rosy pink in a heartbeat. She huffs, tying her bathrobe and slipping her feet into her shoes. She rushes out the door, mumbling about how _she has her own flat for a reason_.

"Join me for breakfast!" he calls after her, before shutting the door. Lucy, who was just about to put the key into her apartment door, stares in his door's direction in shock, almost dropping the key.

"Did he just...?" Lucy hesitantly asks, before shaking her head and opening the door.

Lucy breathes in deeply inside her apartment. _Home sweet home._

Except it's not as warm as Natsu's apartment. She already finds herself wanting to go back, go back to chilling on his couch with their legs tangled up and their breaths mingling.

Clapping her hands to her hot cheeks, she rushes to the bathroom. She feels so silly. He's just Natsu, her new next-door neighbor and maybe, if she can call him that now, her new friend.

* * *

She shows up again at his door forty five minutes later, wrapped up in a cute pink coat trimmed with white fur and blue jeans that she feels super cute in.

(Though it's not like she's dressing up for this or anything. She just wanted to wear this outfit.)

She's about to knock, but her fingers stop just before hitting the wood. The reality of what she's doing is kind of like a punch to her throat and she has to stop to breathe, the cold December air scratching her throat.

Natsu is her new next door neighbor. How the hell did he work his way into her life so fast? It's been merely twenty four hours and yet she's already wearing her best clothes and waiting at his door to eat together. What is this? Is this normal? Is she supposed to feel...is she supposed to feel kind of excited, in front of his door?

Her thoughts are interrupted as the door opens from the other side. Natsu sees her and smiles immediately, shutting the door behind him and locking it.

"I was just about to get you because you were taking _forever_!" he says, walking towards the stairs. Lucy, surprised at his speed, trots to catch up to him and then follows him from a step behind, watching his broad shoulders and how they just seem to cover her entirely.

"Wait, I thought we were eating in your apartment?" she asks him as they reach the bottom.

"I don't have shit in my refrigerator," he admits and Lucy gives him a look.

"So where are we going?" she asks.

He shrugs. "I thought we could figure it out in town."

And now without even realizing it Lucy's walking around in downtown Magnolia with a somewhat cute guy in the middle of December.

"It's so fucking cold," Natsu grumbles, pushing his muffler up so it covers his mouth and the tip of his nose.

Lucy, who had noticed the very same scarf tied around his waist yesterday as they were unpacking, asks, "Is that scarf important to you?"

Natsu's head snaps down to look at her, and Lucy's taken aback with the intensity burning in his onyx eyes. After a moment, he slowly looks away and says, "Yeah. My dad gave it to me."

Maybe that was a touchy subject. Lucy pouts, looking the other way towards the river that runs through town. It's frozen over now, and some daring kids are ice-skating on the thin ice, their laughs ringing through the air.

"Want to go here?" Natsu asks, pointing towards a small coffee shop nestled in between a clothing boutique and stationary shop.

A bell dings at the door as Lucy and Natsu walk in. Instantly an overpowering scent of coffee beans and warmth hits her in the face, and she blinks as she adjusts to the dim lighting and the cramped shop.

The shop is almost empty. Natsu walks up to the barista and asks for a simple cup of black coffee.

"What do you want?" he asks Lucy over his shoulder, and Lucy blinks. She wasn't expecting him to ask her. He's being more..._chivalrous_ than she thought.

"A cappuccino," she decides, and the barista nods.

After getting the drinks, Lucy and Natsu sit at the long bar counter that runs along the window at the back of the shop near the door. Lucy blows on her drink, the foam rippling away. Her feet dangle slightly on the high stool she's sitting on, and she takes a sip, her eyes on the faded street she can see through the fogged over window.

Natsu, having already gulped down his strong coffee, is drawing pictures on the fog with his finger. She can see him, and his cat, and his couch, and - _is that her?_

"Wait, is that me?" she asks. He nods absentmindedly, his finger drawing something that vaguely resembles a dress.

Lucy stares at his depiction of her, before bursting out into laughs.

"Hey, it's not that bad!" he shouts, pouting.

"Yes, it is," she replies. "I do _not _look like that. God, you drew me so _fat_!"

"It's a masterpiece," he declares, covering up his drawing to stop her from erasing it.

Eventually she gives up and goes back to her drink, but she can't help but subtly glance at it every minute or so. For some reason, his awful drawings are extremely cute and she just wants to hug him.

In the drawing she's standing next to him, with Happy the cat in the middle. The couch is on the side - and now he's drawing a blob which she thinks is a cup of coffee.

She stares happily into the remaining foam in her drink, breathing in the coffee aroma. The warm feeling is back and she just wants to drown in it. She wonders if it's from the coffee or the shop or Natsu or all of it at once.

Natsu holds his head in his hands and glances at Lucy out of the corner of his eye. She's staring into her drink and softly smiling and one blond lock is falling over her face and she looks like she's kind of glowing in the faded winter lighting.

"A masterpiece," he mumbles, except this time he's not looking at the drawing.

* * *

A/N: People actually wanted me to update and I failed them. I'm horrible.


End file.
